Eye laser treatment for sore eyes

The excimer laser has long been used to provide people a vision aid-free life. But did you know that this laser has been used to provide healthcare treatments? With its extreme meticulousness, this device is also utilised to treat disorders on the cornea's outer layer.

Waking up with sore eyes

Corneal abrasion is an affliction whereby a sudden pain in the eyes can occur when waking up in the morning. This can also happen at night when people wake up and open their eyes. The problem lies in the cornea, the clear outer layer of the eye. Opening the eyes can cause a spontaneous injury on the surface. The root of the problem is often what we call map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy. Oftentimes, it afflicts both eyes.

At times, the cause could be an incidental trauma against the eye's surface, such as a fingernail, a branch or something similar. In this case, the affliction will only be on the eye on which the trauma has been caused. The causing trauma might be a recent occurrence. Or in some cases, months, even years have passed between the trauma and the beginning of a corneal abrasion.

Eye laser treatment

To begin with, the injury will be treated with eye drops and ointment. This is sufficient for some patients and the discomfort ceases. But at times, the affliction continues and eye laser treatment becomes a necessity.

The laser is used to treat and fortify the outer layer. It polishes, as it were, the surface. The corneal abrasion should no longer occur after the recuperation period. This procedure has a success rate of almost 100%, which means that most patients, if not all, will certainly experience an improvement from their soreness.

This procedure is called PTK, or phototherapeutic keratectomy. It is the same treatment used to make a patient vision aid-free. However, PTK does not reshape the cornea - which otherwise is the case in spectacles correction. It merely lasers away a superficial amount of 1/100 of a millimeter to polish the surface. The outer layer usually heals rapidly and is sturdier than ever before.